Man claims marijuana oil is beating his cancer

St. John's, Newfoundland, cancer patient Paul Morrissey is convinced marijuana oil is a cure for the disease.

By Barb Sweet, The Telegram •January 18, 2014 11:08 am

St. John’s, NEWFOUNDLAND — A St. John’s man suffering from prostate cancer that had metastasized is crediting marijuana oil treatment with putting him on the mend.

“It makes me feel 20 years younger, that’s what the marijuana oil does,” said Paul Morrissey, adding he shoveled snow for three hours during the recent blizzard and blackout with no problems.

“There was pretty ferocious wind and snow. I came out of it looking like a walking popsicle. However after all that work and so forth I was in excellent condition. Even without cancer, I wouldn’t suspect I’d last that long or do that well.”

Morrissey’s prostate-specific antigen blood levels have improved dramatically and there has been some regression in his lymph nodes and abdomen, said his family physician, Dr. Randy Hart, who was given permission to speak about his patient’s case.

Hart can’t say if the unorthodox treatment helped.

But Morrissey’s PSA levels dropped nearly 10 times from their previous level — down to 3.3 from 29.5.

“There certainly has been a major improvement in his situation. And I am delighted for him, delighted overall.”

Hart said when Morrissey first mentioned the marijuana oil to him, he was skeptical and implored him to embark on conventional treatment.

Morrissey did agree to go to an oncologist and was also seeing a urologist.

Morrissey said he did take pill medication for roughly a month and an injection prescribed by his oncologist, but is so convinced the oil was what helped him, he has discontinued the course of conventional treatment.

He said he hasn’t received any chemotherapy or radiation either.

“I have known Paul for a long time. … He is a spiritual guy,” Hart said, adding the oncologist’s prescribed medication may have contributed to lower PSA levels.

“He did receive some conventional treatment, but he did have a really good response. From my perspective, there was a huge improvement. We should all be open to listening to people. But there is no way I could say with any certainty the hemp oil had anything to do with it.”

The Telegram first told Morrissey’s story in September 2013 when he said at Stage 4 prostate cancer, he was putting his faith in the marijuana oil treatment.

At the time, Morrissey said he’d put medical treatment off for a year and was frantically trying to source the oil.

The cancer was then spreading to his back and lymph nodes, but Morrissey said it was because he could only source a small amount of the oil in Toronto and hadn’t obtained enough to cure the disease.

But soon after the story ran, he said he was able to find a supply not in this province, but on the mainland, which has cost him less than $4,000, Morrissey said Friday.

Morrissey insists his PSA levels plummeted because of six weeks on the marijuana oil.

He was sold on the controversial marijuana oil treatment after watching a video by Rick Simpson of Maccan, Nova Scotia, called “Run from the Cure.”

In the video, Simpson claims the marijuana oil is nature’s miracle and that he gave it away to about 5,000 people until he ran into legal barriers.

Simpson asserts medical, legal and political authorities and the pharmaceutical industry are ignoring the cancer epidemic and the potential of the oil.

Morrissey said that on his way to Toronto in December 2012, he stopped in Maccan and spent five hours with Simpson and some others featured in the video, which suggests marijuana oil as a fix not only for cancer but various types of pain and a range of diseases such as glaucoma and diabetes. The video also provides instructions for making the oil.

“Four people in that house had cancer,” Morrissey said last fall. “They cured themselves.”

The oil is taken orally and doesn’t produce a high, Morrissey insists. Some claim rubbing it on skin cancer lesions as a cure.

On Friday, Morrissey renewed the plea he made last fall for a clinical trial on the marijuana oil to prove what he thinks is its medicinal benefit for others.

“I’m OK with my cancer. I will be fine,” he said. “But there are a lot of people out there who are dying.”

Cannabis or marijuana products and their derivatives are illegal and fall under Schedule II of the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act.